The heat and hot water will be shut off to the dorms and other main campus buildings from 10:00 p.m. tonight (Feb. 2) until 6:30 a.m. tomorrow in order to repair two damaged steam valves in the campus heating system.

The temperature in the dormitories should not drop more than 10 degrees, but please close all windows and window blinds to conserve residual heat.

Union College’s fourth Haiti relief team returns to Lincoln

When uprooting a life and immigrating to a new country, many
things get left behind. For Thuy Ho, it was more than just things that didn’t
fit in a suitcase; she had to leave behind her medical license. In her native
Vietnam, Ho had earned a medical degree and had years of experience as an
internist, but did not qualify to continue practicing medicine in the United
States. Undaunted by the task of starting over, she enrolled in Union College’s
Physician Assistant Studies Program.

Now in her second year of the graduate degree, Ho has
qualified for the National Health Services Corps Scholarship, a highly
competitive and prestigious full-ride scholarship for physician assistants
willing to practice medicine in less prestigious locales.

Life in Vietnam

Raised in postwar Vietnam by Catholic parents, Ho decided to
pursue a medical career early in life. “My father was a pharmacist,” she
smiled. “He encouraged me to be a physician so I could help them by opening a
clinic nearby.”

Classes will be held today, Jan. 8, 2010. While the schedule continues as normal, administrators will be understanding if those who live at a distance choose not to brave the roads. Please use good judgement in deciding whether or not to come to class. Your safety is most important.

Students and employees are encouraged to dress warmly, donning layers, hats and gloves. Students without appropriate cold-weather attire are encouraged to contact Dr. Linda Becker in Student Services for assistance. Hot drinks will also be served all day in the Student Services office.

Any faculty unable to get to the college should call Dr. Russell's office (402.486.2501). Staff stuck off campus should contact their supervisor.

Please continue checking e-mail, the snow closing line (486-2551) and Web site (www.ucollege.edu) throughout the day for any updates or possible weather closings.

Is the thought of facing the arctic outdoor air preventing you from asking a librarian for the research assistance you need? This semester, the library is offering another solution. You may now seek the assistance of a reference librarian from the cozy warmth of your dorm room or home through instant messaging. This service is being tested during second semester. To find out more about how to access the service, see Ask Your Librarian. Please note that this service is av

Union College Library has joined Facebook. Become a fan and receive the latest updates on services, resources, and events in the library. Fans may also browse library photo albums and give the library staff suggestions through the online discussions.

Art is a commodity. Young girls are not. Union College's Peace and Social Justice Club, in conjunction with Union's chapter of Amnesty International, invites the Lincoln community to help put an end to slavery by buying art on Sunday, Dec. 6 from 1-3 p.m. Held in the lobby of Engel Hall on the Union College campus, the Tiny Hands, Big Hearts sale will benefit Tiny Hands International, a Lincoln-based
organization dedicated to stopping human trafficking.

The students were inspired to support Tiny Hands after representatives spoke about the organization's mission to help enslaved girls during a chapel service at the college. Amanda Clark, president of the Peace and Social Justice club, said seeing photos of just a few of the thousands
of little girls sold to brothels each year made the cause personal.

“I thought
of my new nieces. I thought of my little sister,” said Clark, a senior graphic
design major. “I started to think of all of the young women I know and about them being
forced into something like that.” She knew she had to do something. Unsure what
sort of impact a single college student could make, inspiration struck during a
conversation with a friend and fellow artist.

When eight students in Union College's Event Planning class started brainstorming about their class project, they found they were passionate about two things: the BackPack Program and fashion. The combination of these interests will culminate in Fashion for Food, a benefit fashion show featuring designers and boutiques from Lincoln and Omaha on Sunday, December 6 at 7:00 p.m. at Campus Life North (map).

On Sept. 22, Union College’s Leadership Symposium presented speaker Greg Mortenson, co-author of New York Times bestseller Three Cups of Tea who was nominated this year for the Nobel Peace Prize by several members of the United States House of Representatives.

Live streaming video of college events had been a wish of many Union parents, alumni and employees for a long time. However, due to the expense of the necessary Internet bandwidth, it wasn't until last spring that Tom Becker, director of Information Systems, was able to find a solution.

Working with the local Time Warner Cable office in Lincoln, Becker was able to negotiate a new contract that quadrupled the connection speed on campus. The results of their collaboration can be seen at uclive.ucollege.edu, which provides streaming video of select athletic, social, and artistic events.

“It got started because a lot of parents and grandparents of students like to see what their children and friends are doing,” said Becker. “But we had limited bandwidth to our campus, not enough to stream video.”

Becker asked the local Time Warner Cable office for some additional bandwidth for a few days during the Mid-America Union Basketball Tournament last spring so that he could try broadcasting the games on the Internet.

Union College was awarded the Grower Designation of the Governor's Excellence in Wellness Award on Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at the WorkWell annual awards banquet held at the Rococo Theatre.

Union College was one of 28 award recipients out of the 130 WorkWell member companies. The criteria for the award was a company that offers a health
and wellness program for their employees with varied programs to encourage annual health assessments, annual cholesterol screening, exercise and
healthy food choices and the program is deemed a successful wellness program by having more than 50 percent active participation numbers and is supported by
upper management.

"More and more companies are creating Wellness programs because they improve productivity and job satisfaction," said Nancy Petta, professor of human performance and chair of Union's Wellness Committee. "At Union, it's even more important because we really care about each other not only as colleagues, but as friends."

While the award is based on last year's performance, the Wellness Committee is continuing to provide opportunities for personal improvement this year based on the NEWSTART program. Each month, a different element of NEWSTART is emphasized:

On the heels of a moving Friday night concert, Australian musicians Endless Praise will offer a free workshop for song leaders on Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 5 p.m. in Union College’s Woods Auditorium. Participants will learn how to more effectively integrate music with worship services.

The six-member band is one of Australia’s leading Christian music groups and has appeared at events such as the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and the Australian Gospel Music Festival. Endless Praise incorporates inspirational worship, pop, contemporary, funky and R&B elements into their performances.

“Endless Praise touched my heart with their stories and songs,” said Valentina Goodman, sophomore elementary education major. “Union is very blessed to have them here on our campus. I think they have a lot to offer students.”

While the workshop is geared toward students, all are welcome regardless of musical ability.

Completing homework assignments on time can be an art form. Sometimes, the homework itself is art.

Running through Oct. 24, the McClelland Art Gallery is showcasing more than 35 pieces created by students. The artwork consists of projects completed this year in classes such as Design I, Oil Painting, Watercolor, Intro to Graphic Arts and Page Layout.

Ambitious elementary and secondary education majors from
Union College, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Concordia University, Southeast
Community College Beatrice and members of the University of Nebraska Lincoln
PDK Chapter flooded Union’s campus, ready to learn.

“It was exciting to see so many different cultures come
together with the common purpose of education,” said Jessica Reeder, freshman
elementary education major from Colorado.

A total of 26 teachers from ten Asian, European and South
American countries lead roundtable discussions that focused on administrative
organization, curricular and instructional approaches to multicultural
education.

“I felt a strange, common bond with each person there. In a
way we all shared the same life goal – to educate children,” said Tabitha
Schumacher, freshman elementary education major from North Dakota. “I felt a
calling, through the PDK meeting, to become a student missionary sometime in my
college education. I want to
experience the things I heard first-hand.”

Teachers shared information about their culture and how
education systems in their countries differ from the United States. Many
teachers donned their national costumes, showed video clips, pictures and
displayed artifacts unique to their country.

Union College is seeking alumni to participate in a one-hour open forum on Tuesday, October 20 at 3:30 p.m. in the President’s Dining Room (located in the Ortner Center). This open meeting is part of a comprehensive evaluation visit (October 19-21, 2009) conducted by a team representing the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

The visiting team will make recommendations to the Higher Learning Commission based on a the college’s self-study report and interviews and meetings such as this one with employees, students, alumni and others. Following a review process, the commission itself will take the final action regarding Union’s accreditation status. The college has been accredited by the commission since 1923.

During the 2009-2010 flu season, EBSCOhost is making H1N1 resources from its evidenced-based medicine databases available for free. The special H1N1 portal is divided into three sections, one each for clinicians, nurses, and patients. According to the current issue of College & Research Libraries News, "the For Patients section includes current, easy-to-understand articles written for non-medical professionals." The clinician and nurse sections draw on information from EBSCO's DynaMed and Nursing Reference Center databases. To access this resource, visi

Every year an average of 572,032 women and 48,983 men experience domestic violence at the hands of an intimate partner. And every year, between 2,000 and 4,000 of those men and women will die from the injuries they receive at the hands of a loved one.

To represent the lives lost due to intimate partner domestic violence, 2,000 illuminated bags will outline the Union College campus on Oct. 8, each flicker telling a story’s tragic end. The process of placing the bags and lighting the candles will begin at 4 p.m. The commemorative service will begin at 7 p.m. on the Tribute Terrace outside the Ortner Center.

Although Union’s Social Work Club plans the event, it is implemented with the help of many student and community hands. Preparation will begin three days prior to the event, as volunteers scoop sand into the 2,000 bags and place a small candle in the center.

This will be the second year that Union College has used the luminary event to “shine light on a dark issue” and promote the Friendship Home’s annual Safe Quarters drive that will take place Sunday, Oct. 11. Union is a hosting site for the drive, during which more than 1,500 volunteers go door-to-door, collecting spare change and other financial contributions. The Friendship Home uses the donations to help battered women and their children rebuild their lives, free from violence.

Can $80 change a life? The McClelland Art Gallery is displaying pictures from the overseas humanitarian project Union College participated in over the summer. Running through Oct. 10, the display depicts the impact $80 can make—the cost of teaching someone to read. An individual’s education can change the future of entire families.